FIFA 18 defending tutorial. How to defend in FIFA 18

Our FIFA 18 defending tutorial shows all the techniques and tricks to improve at defending. Really is as important in FIFA 18 as attacking. Become skilled at defending and you have a good chance of beating more experienced players or more importantly those with stronger teams. Make sure you learn to jockey using LT/L2 and running jockey same but with RT/R2 same time. Most of the points we make are shown in the excellent video by Boras shown on this page.

FIFA Controller settings

The key settings for defending in FIFA 18 are shown below. Change autoswitching to Airballs so you have to manually change players unless in the air when it picks the player the ball is heading for. Autoswitching move assistance means when you change to a player they keep moving slightly in the direction they were facing rather than simply stopping. Analogue sprint also useful when defending because your player reacts to the amount you are pressing the left stick to move. Also make sure have tactical defending set for if you play offline to get used to the game online. Online it always uses tactical. Legacy = FIFA 17 defending

Then you need to know the defence buttons on your controller. By default classic settings are as shown here. If you use alternative all that changes are sliding tackle with Tackle/Push Pull.

How to switch players in FIFA

Pressing LB/L1 will switch to the player nearest the ball. However you can change manually to a different player defensively by flicking the right stick in the direction of the player you want. Get used to this so you are always in control of the player you want. Especially if defending a break away counter attack and needing to select a deeper defender to start them running the opposite way.

How to contain and jockey in FIFA – Same in every version

This is very important for FIFA 18 because defenders turn slowly naturally. Below features a helpful video EA brought out for FIFA 16 showing how to use 2nd man contain and Jockey. As per the image above you can contain (make your player track the opponent player with ball). Press A on xbox or X on Playstation to make your player stand in front of the opponent with the ball. Your player will move in the same directions you dont even need to move the left stick. The video below shows how to use teammate contain allowing you to control a player further away from the play. Leaving the computer to defend for you. This can be useful but you need to know when to do it. Some great examples in the Boras defending video tutorial on this page. Some good examples and video in our defending crosses and corners tutorial pages too.

FIFA 18 defending video

How and when to tackle in FIFA 18

Boras FIFA 18 tutorial shows good examples of tackling timing and techniques. In FIFA 18 you can now power up tackles and slide tackles similar to shooting. There are four main parts to tackling,

1. Lunging, 2. Push and pull, 3. The tackle, 4. The slide tackle.

If there is a gap between you and the player with the ball pressing tackle will actually make your player lunge at them with his leg. This is best when in front of a player running at you or if you are running towards the player from an angle and quite close. Make sure if further away to hold down tackle button before releasing. When too much of a gap or you don’t press long enough your player will lunge at space and his leg will be stuck out meaning you can’t control him quickly again. Sometimes players do this themselves if you aren’t controlling them and it makes it easier for attackers to run round them.

Using push and pull and sliding tackles

If running along side a player or behind them you can use the push pull button (usually same as shoot) to try knock them off the ball or pull their shirt. This is best used outside the box and mainly against wingers to put them off their cross. Can also be used to try stop players shooting but the animations of the game might mean you give away a free kick or penalty!

Sliding tackles are an art you should practice. You can use the left stick to curl your feet round a player to make a tackle. It is even more effective with better players. If running along side press the left stick in same direction while pressing slide tackle and then curl the left stick round in the direction of their feet as if your foot is wrapping around the ball. Otherwise slide tackling is more useful for cutting out passesand blocking passes. Make sure not last man we don’t recommend sliding in the area.

Reading your opponent in FIFA

Easier than it sounds you say ha. Well maybe it is. As soon as you see 4-3-3 formation with three very quick forwards I think you can guess that your opponent will be looking to use pace and not be bothered with delicate build up play. If so you can drop your players deeper using custom tactics or even push them higher up the pitch and press players more with offside set. Make sure you check out our new bigger custom tactics pages with videos.

If your opponent charges players at you in groups then try longer balls and 1-2 plays around them. For people who use wingers make sure your formation allows the cover and you use our defending crosses page with video.

When your opponent parks the bus there will be space in midfield to run into. Make sure you know which of your players are good at longshots and shoot from outside the box. There are lots of long distance shooters in FIFA 18 for various prices.

I have three big questions that a lot of people keep asking and we would love your help with.
1. How do you insta re tackle? After winning the ball its instantly taken from you before you can pass,clear or shield the ball. My player is also stunned briefly while the opposition disappear into the distance.
2. How do you tackle someone shielding the ball? In the first 7 or 8 divisions you can shield the ball, after that players just sprint through you like you’re not there and disappear into the distance.
3. Straight forward tackle of a player in front of you? You press tackle, opposition player stands there like he’s a 100 year old oak tree (Theo Walcott), your player recoils like he has been smashed in the face with an iron bar (Toure). Opposition player runs off into the distance.

Any help on button combinations etc much appreciated as standard tackling and timing isn’t cutting it against the top players.

This has nothing to do with tackling stats or strength as the very weakest players are able to do all of the above to the very strongest.

I could really use some help on something that really bugs me and has almost made me break my controller in half once or twice. When an opponent I am playing online lobs a pass downfield, I switch to one of my defenders and they seem to just stop for a split second which allows my opponent to have a pretty big advantage. Now, I’ve tried messing around with the Move Assistance, but it stills seems to happen regularly. Am I doing something wrong? Please, any help would be greatly appreciated.

Can you tell me how to intercept passes automatically in Fifa 14. I’ve see plenty of matches when the opponent seems to automatically (or pressing some button) make his player intercept the passes i make to my players. They basically run from behind and take the ball before my player receives it. I know you mentioned there are a couple of tactics that can do this but I already tried it and those tactics are nowhere near as accurate or consistent at intercepting passes. I’m talking about a situation in which most of my passes get intercepted like I explained.

Can someone please tell me sorry if repeated but, everytime i play a game my opposition alwayes seems to have more players ! when i pass the ball theres always someone there, also HOW do you defend with more than 2 defenders because i press contain and teammate contain always but other people run at me with like 3 or 4??? PLEASE help i really suck at defending but seems everyone knows how except me:'(

This may have already been answered, so I’m sorry if it’s a repeat. However I would like to know how to defend inside the box.

Most of my opponents can get right inside my box, my defenders feel none existent. They constantly get in each other way, fall over each other, giving my opponents an open opportunity. My defence never seems to close down, and they are always walked around like they aren’t even there. So, this usually means I concede in these situations. It’s a pain and it really get’s me annoyed (at how bad I am). If I try to put a foot in, I just give away a pen, so I can’t do anything but stand and watch as another goal goes in.

When I’m in the opponents box, I can’t even keep the ball to my feet before being taken down. So I hardly ever get shots off.

Hi, I’ve been wondering how you can block attackers from getting the ball after a through pass in which my defender is closer. In other words, instead of having my defender retrieve the ball what I want to do is to block the attackers running path with my defender so he can’t reach it and the ball goes offside so I get a goal kick or throw. I’ve seen it done many times in my games but I don’t know how. I play on Fifa 14 by the way.

P.S. I know you can press double trigger to “sort of” get in the attackers way for an instant if he happens to be running in the exact same direction in which you were blocking the ball but the kind of blocking I’m referring to is much more effective and seems to completely block the attacker, no matter if he tries to go around you to get the ball first.

Only thing can think of is using the two triggers to block a player. There isn’t a button which forces a player to block a run. Maybe you need to practice using the two triggers to move your defender. Make sure player switching is set to airballs or manual for it to work. We use it all time to block players.

how to win physical battles? when i take the ball from players which are small, like willian, with Kompany some how willian wins the battle after taking the ball from him, how do people do this? are they pressing something that i am not, i press R2 (in posession of ball) but still my player gets ‘steam roll” and falls to the ground. please help. you know the “steam roll” animation, opposing player has his hands up like he did nothing wrong, and keeps moving.

I can’t defend people that just sprint and change direction slightly with big strong fast strikers and such. They literally pass the ball from defence to their striker at half way then turn around and sprint towards goal! Please help

Have to wait until we have updated all the pages although lots of what is on there will help you. Basically need to look at formation tactics, players and how you defend ha. Lots to work on. Will try add sections with video like we did for crossing and corner defending.

Look in the controller settings for the button which says Tackle/Push or pull. This is what they are using. You can try to stop it by moving in a direction away from it or using the protect the ball which is usually LT/L2.

thanks..another thing how do you keep your defence from running wild and just making wholes for the opposition…I was playing a guy and his defence stayed together and never open unless he came to tackle…

Thanks for the great post! I have A LOT of problems defending against chipped through balls. I used a lot of Bayern Munich in the online Season and 99% of the goals conceded originated when I run a defender down the line to stop the winger from crossing, the attacking midfielder turn back to the center of the field and lop a high through ball towards Ronaldo in between my 2 CBs. For some reason, I just can’t switch back to the central defender quick enough (usually Dante who isn’t quick enough to turn and recover) and the next thing I know C.Ronaldo is through on goal.

I mean, I am pretty confident in stopping crosses but I struggled a lot when my opponents(always Real Madrid for Christ’s Sake) just simply lop a high through ball in between my 2 defenders and I can’t switch back to them quick enough. Another problem I am facing is that when my opponent is counter attacking, I just can’t stop the diagonal run of their forwards. I tried to drag all my back four back to my penalty box but my opponent seem to be able to always make a diagonal run and one through ball to Bale or Ronaldo murdered me again …. Would appreciate some help

how do you get the AI to intercept the ball, i have played games, where the CB OR CDM passes the ST or CM, to intercept the ball.

how can i do the same on FIFA 14, it really is annoying. so far i have read your entire site and dont see a interception tutorial. in other fifas never had that problem. but FIFA 14 I DO, in seasons and FUT.

The AI doesn’t do interceptions unless by accident using second man press. You can manually switch to a different player for the interception attempt and use second man press anyway. Which is explained in the defending tutorial.

1 often the players dont respond while defending. other team crosses and your defender just looks around and doesnt respond to you moves. then mandukic heads the ball and goal… happens way too much really annoying.

2 also please confirm while attacking and you have the ball you hold L1 and once you loose the ball immediately L1 starts to kick in and you rush to the ball that you just lost and regain it. so this happens especially in the box.

3 And while running if you hold L1 the player still runs faster but behaves different and has more control over the ball. so robben ^ ribery become dribbling gods plus it opposes to oppent’s pull and push…

Hi, Im just wondering is their anyway to actually control a player immediately when you switch to them while waiting for a pass to come in( either as the offensive or defensive player). As it is now, when i pass the game automatically switches control to the player but the players just stand there until the ball comes in when sometimes it would benefit to run towards the ball to prevent the defender from running up behind and taking the ball. This happens to me all the time. When I’m on defense, I switch to the player and he just sits a mile behind the guy and their player receives the ball. Again, i have already manually switched control to the player but i literally can’t move him until the offensive player has gathered control of the ball. Somehow it can be done because people I play are constantly are doing it.
In relation to this, sometimes their is an off target pass that is rolling put of bounds, you switch to the nearest player and try to stop him from getting it but the guy is just breaking his neck to the ball, being controlled by the CPU again even though you have switched and should be controlling the player. Is their any way to actually control this player and stop him from touching the ball? Sorry if this was too wordy, just trying to add in all the details. Thank you for your time.

Guys fantastic site and it helps no end but I’m coming up against players that can run twice as fast as me for the full 90 mins, they never tire and can tackle through my players when I shield the ball. It’s like they are on steroids. Lots of people bring this up. I’ve had Theo Walcott quite literally run though Ya Ya Toure, V Kompany and finally Vidic without breaking stride before slotting into the net. The players do this kind of weird vibrate when the defensive tackling player should win the ball and then the far weaker opponent just runs off leaving them for dead. I managed to record one goal where Theo does the above and quite literally kicks through my third strong defensive player without ever breaking out of a sprint. It ruins a fantastic online game to be honest, you want to win on merit but no one would play Fifa 14 if at the start you were informed one team will not be allowed to tackle for the duration of the game! It’s nothing to do with connectivity, fitness or cards. Some teams are just massively, weirdly overpowered and able Kick through players like they don’t exist. Is it a combination of buttons to tackle harder? Do you know what’s going on?

Hey Pierre, what platform are you using? because I see this on ps3 myself, and it’s driving me crazy. Does anyone have an answer for this, am at the point where i don’t want to play anymore. is this a cheat? or is this a setting that you can do?

ok, can I get some help here please. I’ve read this thing from top to bottom, I have it on anlog sprint, change my auto switching to high, low and even off. I’ve custimized my team from top to bottom, and yet I still get hammered by teams with this crazy speed. I’m not talking about 1 or 2 players i’m talking about the whole team. I use Man U, so my team is pretty good. I’ve also notice that the animation of the sprint is a hell of alot different from my oppoinent then my own. what the hell are they doing to run so fast???? Can any one explain to me what the F they are doing. It’s driving me insaine.

I feel this guys pain since it happens to me too. I use Real Madrid and Im unable to outrun my opposing teams defensemen using Bale or Ronaldo yet when i come up against someone using Real Madrid Ronaldo and Bale can’t be caught…even if trying to approach from an angle. It’s Rm vs Rm so everything should be equal yet it’s very clear the opposing team is much faster. In addition to being stronger, one touch of the push/pull button and my guy is ripped off the ball. I think I’m finally throwing in the towel. I dont need the frustration.

Sounds like not sure of the techniques? Knocking ball into space, push and pull tackling holding onto player? If player is lower in stamina also will not burst away, also very slight angle to dribble will be faster pace.

Wow. Thank You So Much!!! I’ve Always Been an Amazing Attacker and always a Sloppy Defender who would ever make successful tackles no Matter how hard i Tried, i use to always Rage and Start Crying in Frustration. I normally Play on Semi Pro cause i Suck at defending, but then I Tried a Few World Class Matches and because of these Tactics a Actually Won My first World Class Match!!! THANK YOU

I am a PS3 user.
In FIFA 14, I still can’t defend CORNERS or CROSSES.
I have followed/practiced “6. How to defend crosses in FIFA” & the YouTUbe video but holding the “LS/RS” and “O” doesn’t quite work for me or just weakly falls to the foot of an attacking player outside the box. I thought it was due to my timing of the BALL DIP from the CORNERS/CROSSES but it doesn’t seem to be the case. Please, help.

So after lack of success, I have been following “6. How to defend crosses in FIFA” but replaced the step PRESS “O” with “TRIANGLE” [just press once (don’t want GK to come out of Goal Line) when ball is about to DIP], and have been successful. If you would give that “TRIANGLE” method a practice and see if it works.

Plus, any advice for formation when playing with Man Utd? Seem to always find myself playing against Real Madrid.
(I have been playing a 4-1-4-1)

I use 4-1-2-1-2 diamond wide with young and Valencia on the left/right wing,Rooney as CAM,RVP and Hernandez as ST,works like a charm for me.Although I still have a little problem with my CDM. Try it and let me know how it goes.

Maaan, I think FIFA is getting better, but the defenders are still not good.

Sometime they fall alone, you press X on Xbox, they MISS THE BALL!! Whaaat?

And it’s too easy to score on fault, corners. THose should be harder, I think they should create a football game even harder to score, one where, even if you’re the best, you’d have difficult to win a game against a normal player.

People are already finding way where you shoot the ball and score easily. That’s not good 🙁

I am having the same problems as others mentioned above.I have played 100 games online and won about 10.I am not great but some of these players are unstoppable i cannot hold the ball for long without being tackled i cannot tackle them,they are way faster.It is beyond frustrating.THIS GAME IS SO BAD NOW, I’M TRADING IN FOR PES,screw the lob ball and crossing game.

greetings,
i notice when playing online some teams seem to have the team press at you in waves. they seem to be able to control the entire team at once and are all pressing franticly towards me. when i put in high pressure it doesnt do the same. is there a command to have your team push up and pressure?

why is it when I’m playing online, I play guys that have super speed no matter what, none of my played can catch up to them or even when I cross the ball to the other side of the pitch the player that was on the other side of the field gets the ball before it even comes down. is this s a cheat or something?

I just played a game online with Barcelona againts a guy, who controlled a Polish team, I have never heard of, with an attacking score of 53 (Barca 86). His players were faster than Real Madrid’s, and once he got the ball, there was no way to stop him, he ran all the way through and scored. This is not the first time I play teams, which are impossible to stop, and have unexplainable speed. There must be a way to tweak your team, and cheat your way into victory this way. Very disappointing.

Help!
When I am playing online, somehow my opponent’s players seem to be sprinting with lightning pace. For example, I am sprinting (R2) with Rooney and if the opponent has Rio Ferdinand as the defender he catches up… Also as sooon as I get the ball there is a mad rush of players towards me. I feel like the opponents use some sort of automatic settings, but am not sure. Any idea?

i have question about direction of the tackle
does it matter if you hold the left stick too far or should you move it just a little when tackling
and it seems that most won tackles only succeed if they were from an angle such as top right top left etc
do you notice the same thing??

the answer to most of your problems is to simply learn to play the game using manual controls, assisted controls more or less plays the game for you…most,if not all the assists end up causing all kinds of problems in the game but players absolutely refuse to learn to pass, shoot,cross, how to defend,learn proper movement etc. and complain about incidents in the game…if you allow the computer to automatically mark players obviously neither player could create opportunities..so then the game has to decide in multiple instances to force your defenders to move out of position,players can be located at multiple angles however input is so generic by most assisted players that the game will actually more often than not just chose a player who is unmarked and close to that angle so that you are still in possession of the ball..might not be who you wanted but how is the game supposed to know… it is assisting you…crosses from headers and corners have always been a problem again the assistance plays a generic cross and it is also defending for the other person the only way to get the headed goal is to input close enough power to a player with decent heading ability and he might score a marked header even though in reality most headed goals come from free headers…assistance relies heavily on players attributes rather than what is happening on the controls…simply picking the highest rated teams and trying your best to pass to the highest rated players shooting with them, spamming quick passes and crosses is pretty much all that is needed to attack successfully and win..regardless of poor positioning, whether the pass itself would realistically be possible, whether it should be easily interceptable etc. if people bothered to learn how to play the game then they wouldn’t mind losing because the fault is squarely on them..however if you still don’t care and just want to win using and abusing the ai then make sure you always have the team with highest no. of highly rated players and play lower teams also take long shots and crosses more so than bother with penetrative play because just like with the marked headers the least successful plays in reality end up being the most successful on fifa…

We didn’t read all of this was too long but the reason we don’t use manual (we would otherwise) is that the online connections aren’t good enough with EA servers so manual passing doesn’t work as it should. Press left and if lagging the ball goes diaganally forward not left etc.

hi could you help me out with defending please every time the CPU goal keeper starts the game it looks like all my defenders and midfield players standing or hanging around in the midfield area and there are like none of my defenders at the back defending ive tried using default as well as so many different custom settings nothing seems to be working 5 or 6 of my players still always stay in the midfield areas like they are hanging out in a garden or a park or some times the CPU goes over the heads of my players
i want my defenders to stay at there positions and not move at any cost from the start till finish and also every time i cross the ball and there is hardly any one in the box to recieve it or they always arrive in the box too late
and when i press my controller so that my player would make a run instead of running forward they start running towards or closer to the player whos dribbling and taking the ball forward
is there anything i can change to make my defenders not move and have my CAM-LM-RM-CM CF-ST to be in the box available to recieve the crosses?
am currently using 442 format as i like having one CF and one Striker and all my defenders work rates set to high defending and low attacking LM-RM-CM high attacking and medium defending CF-Cam-ST are set to high attacking low defending
build up play organized chance creation organized with cover defending
what am i doing wrong?

hi thanks for answering the questions i seem to be having another problem with Fifa 14 while playing at legendary level
ive noticed how almost all of my players got there sprint speed and acceleration in there 90s where as Opponents or (CPU) teams got there sprint speed and acceleration in there 60s or 70s so how the hell are they able to run faster then half my players that got acceleration and sprint speed in 90s and catching up to them and keep tackling and blocking the shots and passes its getting impossible to move the ball forward let alone score a goal id like to know if any one else facing or having the similar problems.
my mate said its got something to do with there energy level which isnt the case because ive checked my players energy levels they aint even tired or anything and they still running too slow having speed in 90s and cpu players running faster having speed in there 70s how is that possible?
my players are one of the fastest such as gareth bale,jordi alba,neymar,kyle walker etc etc but CPU players and there passes are so accurate if your playing at legendary level even players in real life make mistakes but cpu players in fifa are like terminators with out any errors for example if they smash the ball from sydney then the ball will land to one of cpus player standing in london lol its ridiculous how accurate they are
once they scored a goal against me when the ball didnt even land on the ground it was just headers from one cpu player to another then another then another and then bang goal
any one else having or facing these kinda jokes?
cheers

PLEASE HELP, i must have played 300 games on UT 14 so far and i dont think ive won one physical battle! I have tried using really meaty defenders/attackers but seem to get bullied off it literally everytime. Its not the pull/push aspect either ive tried that. Also i can t seem to get away from a defence despite being clear on goal even with players like agbonlepacehore, i’m not a pace abuser but would prefer not to get caught everytime i get goalside of the defence. Its ruining the game for me please help

Thanks for answering my question I posted earlier. I’m quite familiar with using both press and high pressure and as with the custom tactics nothing changes when I select this. The team sits back. However, people I play against have their guys more or less defending me 1 on 1 and closely so as soon as I pass their guys jumps the pass..immediately, It also seems like my opponents team is faster at every position. So if my pass does make it then some defender catches my guy from behind and somehow steps in front and takes the ball away. Guess, Im getting frustrated because it seems im playing at a disadvantage every singe game. I have a long list of things that happen to me every single game (negative things) yet it doesn’t seem to ever happen to anyone I play against.

I experience EXACTLY the same problem. First, I could barely hold in 8th division (UT), then suddenly my players become superheroes and I make it to division 3 getting titles in each division on the way. I was able to win 10 games in a row. Now again, I experience what you described, players are watching the game, not intercepting at all. ANY pass I make, is intercepted because my players are waiting for the ball while opponent’s AI rushing for it. When I successfully tackle, the ball goes for throw in, or right under the foot of my opponent’s player. When I have ball, my opponent’s players simply go through my players, take the ball and, immediately controlling it, they rush on goal like nothing has happened. Even if I manage to win, the stats look funny: I have 2 shots on target and 2 goals, my opponent 15 shots and 0 goals.
No matter I win or lose, my goalkeeper is always man of the match because I have to defend entire 90 minutes being bombarded from everywhere. I have top Bundesliga squad that is totally useless. Formations + custom and quick tactics don’t seem to change anything in my player’s behavior and performance – what’s wrong with this game?

For the love of god how do I defend crossed headers. 90 percent of goals scored against me are this way. It’s not my favorite way to play but when I need to win or tie desperately I will just run down wings and cross in and profit. Does this mean it’s unstoppable (so to speak) or are we all n00bs.

I’m having problems when in a match, I’m not pressing the d-pad but the tactics mentality menu keeps coming on and the offside trap keeps getting played for me and I concede a lot. Also switches my wingers. But I’m not pressing the d-pad at all. Why this happening g?

I am having huge problems with my defence. I conceive goals on counter attacks all the time, eventhough I mostly have much more possesion than my oppenent.

I always set my RB/LB to be LAB/RAB (not sure about the English Term sorry) with Standard Defense and High Offense Ratings, while my FBs are both having High Defense and Low offense ratings.

Further more I set my tactis to pressure 24, Aggression 15 and Width 15. But my Defense tends to be always to much upfront and the two fullbacks very wide from each other – which should be prevented by the narrow setting for the width.

The only thing I can imagine is that the Fullbacks try to cover the space that the offense Righ/Left-Backs leave behind.

Playing mostly 4-4-2, 4-2-2-2 or 4-1-2-1-2 I did always manage to set on DM/ZM to act as a sweeper. To stay put mainly in front of the defensive four and act almost like a fith defense only initiating attacks by setting his work rate to defense very high and offense very low or both to middle. While the other DM or the OM (if present) acts more offensive with the opposite settings.

Any tipps on those settings, how do I keep my defense in the back and behind the ball most of times.

Jockey is almost impossible in this Fifa 14 as the players move at the same speed as if you were not pressing LT/L2. This is ridiculous. Players move way too fast in my opinion and you cannot be precise enough with your movements because of the ridiculous pace.

Why is it when I press down then left on the directional pad for ‘High Pressure’ that it has no effect? Yet when I face the CPU and they try to retain possession, their midfielders push higher to close down the ball carrier and are more likely to win it back? I’ve followed the instructions, but I must be missing out on something?

Please help. I’ve faced a friend of mine who has closed down the ball against me with four, five players simultaneously. I want to do that, but don’t know how. Something in the control settings?

Since I started playing FIFA14 I always face the same situation, when I’m attacking and sent a through pass defender that I literally left behind can manage to recover and be faster than me, the other similar situation is when I dribble and a left behind the player and start my sprint don’t understand how is possible same player can run and reach me, I frustrated as my wingers are fast ones.. Help!!!

FIFA14 has changed now. It is like real life when a player is dribbling with ball they cannot run as fast. You can’t just run have to play the ball into space for player with pace to run onto. Dribbling takes skill this year too. Attacking section not updated yet.

Good day everyone
o what you are saying is L2 +x and then when you press R1 the other defender will tackle the ball,,i was noticing something like that, but didnt know the combination ,example ,R1+ X or L2 + R1, then X, just tell me the right combo and i think i will move forward in defense.
Thanks allot Mr.Fifa in advance and hope we meet online one day,,

In online games sometimes I face with defense which immediately take away the ball from me and defenders can follow very closely my attackers, even if I try to turn left or right… it feels, just like they reading my mind… very fustrating… I am wondering, how a defense can be so effective, as I am not able to reperform this type of effective defending….

Hi, let me begin by saying great site. Ive been one of those idiots who bought so-called-guides just to enhance my playing, did not work at all. Basically I always encounter the same problems and Im not that bad, I float between div5 and div3 in online seasons. Can somebody tell me how you do the shoulder pushing?? It never works in a game for me… Also, I see my opponents slow defenders always getting back to my fast winger/attacker, I never manage this.
And than this, when I pass the ball I try to run towards it but the player doesnt always respond, if I than get it, there is already a defender right behind me. This is something I cannot do as my defenders always stop 2-3m behind the player.
In general I get the feeling I have a bad copy as it quite often doesnt respond properly: players dont pass or shoot when I press the button, defenders stand still like statues, and first touch…well, perhaps that might be something I still need to manage, but its sometimes its just wrong.
I hope somebody can help me out here

Adding more to our lag help sections as found yet something else which can effect it. Push and pull is actually in the tutorial videos in the game but basically just press the shoot button when near them.

Hi ! Please Help! i’ m very pi**ed of right now with fifa 13.. i can’ t understand how to defend when my opponent dont press sprint button and he s just turn around and dribbles me, my players dont take the ball from my opponent and everyone plays like this in online season, and the 2nd thing what really annoys me its that i don t have any space when i want to attack with opponents that just press , i try to don t press sprint button and turn around and pass the ball but i don t know wich button they are pressing cause they can take the ball from me every time ! please respnd i need help !

When they not sprinting just manually switch to another defender away from the ball and try to cover their next pass with that player. They are probably pressing the shoot button which is also the button to try to win the ball when close?

Hi. I’ve played Fifa 13 on a friend’s PC and XBox very often over the last few months. Now I got it installed on my PC as well and I’m facing some difficulties in defending like the way I used to do.
Earlier, I used to press the contain (pass) button a lot while defending. I kept the pass button pressed and my defender would jostle with the opponent till I got a good standing or running tackle in.
Now, on my PC, my players don’t jostle at all. Even when I have my pass button pressed, my players don’t jostle or even run with the opponent. In order to get a tackle, all I am able to use are the direction keys to collide head on with the opponent! Its like that button has stopped working while defending, even though I checked the controls!
Also, earlier when I used to chase a through ball, my player would keep running in the direction of the ball automatically. Now, I just run around the ball without controlling it. Many times I over run the ball without touching it even though it was very close to my player and no one else was near it. It is very frustrating and I don’t know how to change this setting back to normal.
I used to give the CPU good competition on World Class till yesterday at my friend’s place and now I’m losing on Semi Pro today on my PC!
Please help! 🙂

Hi. I want to know how to get my centre backs to attack the ball EARLY, instead of containing/staring at the ball while the midfielders or anyone else does the job of closing down and applying direct pressure. I cannot find anyone to tell me how this is done and I AM REFERRING HERE TO HOW THE A.I. PLAYERS REACT WHEN ASKED TO APPLY PRESSURE. Need one centre back (or both?) with a high attack work rate? defending work rate?

I Play FIFA 13 for Xbox 360. Sometimes when I’m playing online and I go down by a goal the opponent will start playing keep away. I try to use high pressure defense using the the d pad (down the left) but it doesn’t seem to respond. My defense just stays the same. My question is what am I doing wrong? I would really like to be able to implement this defense

Hello..
Im very weak in defending.. I always create spaces in my defence.. I use R1 (team mate containing) while defending or sometimes X to contain.. but still it creates spaces..
While key should I use? Is it R1 or X && when to use it?
I dnt use Jockey because I dnt have any idea abt it..

Hey can you please help me.. in career mode whenever its late on like after the 80th minute and im winning by a margin of one goal the Ai starts to press insanely! i mean he has like 4 players each rushing on my back four and he wont allow me a second on the ball whatever turn pass i try to make he will rob my player of the ball before he even touches it to make the pass. i wanna know how to do that..is there a way?

thankyou for taking the time to reply to my question i really appreciate it 🙂 but i have one more question i know this second man press thing and all but when for example im loosing late on and id want to press really hard it just wont do for me like id use the second man press and use the player in my control to go mark any open player who the opponent could pass to however the 2nd man press is more like 2nd man contain for me the ai wont ever close the opponent down or make a tackle and most of the times the opponent just walks into my net even on high pressure and team pressing

That’s because the second player will only try to tackle the opponent when the player you’re controlling is containing the opponent (holding “x” or holding “a”, button depends on 360 or ps3), what I recomend, if you’re trying to desperately get the ball, use the d – pad to switch to high pressure and to switch to attacking mode, with the high pressure setting your players will try to tackle in the opponent side of the field to get the ball quickly and with the attacking mode your lines will take farther positions, so you will have more player in the oponent side of the field, this combination means you will have more players pressuring in the opponent side, which increases the probability of intercepting a pass or a succesful tackle that will recover the ball.

i have a problem with my defending, i seem to always loose the structure of my defence when a fast player runs with the ball , exaple if cristiano ronaldo uses skills and tricks it always breaks my defence, i wanted help on how to contain fast players, do i stay back or do i attack with leaving defenders behind me.

how do i stop vital through balls which make me conseade goals and give a oppertunity to fast players.

Hi, great site. My question is regards to pulling back when a fast player gets past your defender. If i run past the opp back 4 they seem to just catch up and grab hold and overpower me and no foul is given. If i try it they shrug me off no matter what defender i have ? what am i doing wrong is there something extra to press ?

Fifa p**** me off loads recently. I used to dominate on fifa but now it just feels like every game nothing goes right and the opponent just does EVERYTHING perfectly, every tackle, every shot goes perfect but for me my pass doesn’t even go in the right direction and my shots just get saved so easily or I miss stupidly and I get tackled the moment I get the ball in their half!!!! Also my goalkeeper just feels s*** all the time – I even bought Buffon and he was still not as good as my opponents goalkeeper. He was outperformed by Al-Habsi -.- help I feel like smashing my tv and Xbox up these days when I play on fifa I even have the whole Xbox a break for 3 days.

Check out update on How to win at FIFA 13 blog coming up soon. Also the latest blog on FIFA matchmaking. You basically have the same problem with the game as lots of other people. It isn’t responding properly.

Hi. I have a few questions about defending on FIFA 13. My defenders are almost always a step too slow, and I feel vulnerable almost everytime I get attacked. If I do get the ball back, even the smallest player will outbody my CBs. A similar example is my defender being ahead of the forward on a bad opponent through ball (take for example Pepe) and he’ll get outbodied by Iniesta. It makes no sense to me. Another thing I’ve noticed is how my opponents forwards seem to have 99 marking/tackling/interceptions whenever I get the ball back. While my defenders can’t tackle, or get beat so easily. People just run past them. Any help?

HI, I’m an old man who loves playing the game. I managed to get to division one based mainly on a very strong defence and a great percentage of scoring the very few opportunities I get in a game. However, I noticed that my major problem is not being able to catch up with the attackers when they go past my defenders. This caused me so much grief that I started mucking around with my defence and lost 5 consecutive divisions one after the other, as I completely stuffed up my initial pattern. Is there something I don’t know?, when I get one of my players on a run towards their goal, I see their defenders rush and catch up with mine, yet I have no idea how they do it. On the contrary, when it’s me chasing them, I can never catch up with them, please help me!

Hi! One question: what can be a good tactic agatins ultradeffensive formation (5-3-2) with counter attack tactic. I play with a customized 4-1-2-1-2 formation, my tactic is so-far conservative with deep defending line and medium long passes. Any suggestion? I play very thight matches againts this but more loose than win (usually lossing by 1-2 goals)….

Very hard in FIFA to beat a 5 at the back defence on counter attack. All you can do is go 4-5-1 and keep ball with short passes. Then change back to normal formation and tactic if you score first. Opponent will attack and leave more gaps when behind.

Great site, I’ve got to ask if you know or if you could explain how players are able to tackle 100% perfectly every single time without the ball ever spilling out? I’ve won the 1st division many times but there are players on FIFA that you just cannot touch. Every tackle is taken perfectly into their players stride regardless of what skill move or turn you make, if they so much as touch your player at any angle the ball is lost. These same players when you make a tackle against them just ride it as if you were not there. Is there a combination of buttons or taps that make the perfect tackle allowing you to basically rob the ball every time? No one can guess 100% correctly the angle of run you are going to make, something is def being done different by these players. Any help would be much appreciated.

This game defending is awful, horrible and fictitious. Always, the AI try to manage to STEAL the ball from your feet when you attack. Hardly when I hold RT and A to press my player run like a fool around the AI but not to really press. This is not simulation football its arcade!!!

Another thing I’ve forgotten to mention is a very big disadvantage to us. Is the ai being able to control 4 defenders at once when we can only control one and semi control another using R1/RB . I’ve noticed in cupties or important matches they ai up the anti which is fine because so do I .. But! The fact that when I’m on the wing and I have 3 defenders surrounding me its a clear advantage the ai have against human. The aim is to make the ai more human like so it feels like pVp (player vs player) for those of you who don’t know. So the fact that the ai have 1 massive advantage in the fact they have lock-on and another major advantage with being able to control 3+ players all at the same time definitely makes me question the pros of the game, the fact that hummels has 97 slide tackle and Inevitably when I make the slide before I manage to get back on my feet the ai can spin on the spot in any direction the ball goes recover it and make your slide tackle look useless is very frustrating unless the ai tumble when I make the slide there’s no way of escaping it all in all if EA manage to figure out a way to take out the ai ball lock-on I think it will solve atleast 8 out of 10 of peoples including myself complaints and issues. I tested pro-evolution 13 too compare cons and it doesn’t have half of the issues of gameplay people rant about including myself a sucessful tackle is actually a tackle and I win possession but I don’t think there will ever be a day in football gaming history where they can figure out how to fix what I’ve called since I started playing football games (fifa and pro on ps1/ps2) is ‘shit bounce’ the ball rebounding or deflections from normal standing / slide tackles straight back to opposition or zooming off the pitch for a throw. When you watch football in real life you do see tackles the ball deflecting from standing tackles or 3 defenders pressuring an attacker and the ball rebounding n clashing against legs but the ball doesn’t fly off the pitch or travel miles away.

Guys if your game feels slow and unresponsive, like you press a button and it feels like it is taking longer to process your actions, IT IS NOT THE GAME. I had this problem on occasion, some games my team and actions would be fluid, other games I would press pass or change direction and it felt like it would take a few milliseconds longer to do, which cost me many a game. I couldn’t understand it and also thought it might be scripting because it would always happen after having a few victories in succession. Finally after a complete rage fit and breaking one of my controllers and almost quit playing Fifa, I thought about it and realized like computer hardware, the hotter the components get, the slower things run. PS3/Xbox is no different. So I turned my PS3 off for about 30 mins and resumed. Needless to say, it was back to normal again.

But regardless of that, there are still times when it just feels like the game is against you. Rebounds always end up in the oppositions possession, ref never blows them up for a foul. The one game I was fouled twice in the box and no penalty. So I think there is still scripting to a degree in this game.

We have mentioned on the Connection issues pages better to have a cooler console. However recently the EA Servers affected the gameplay due to the EASFC failing. Each of the players connection to the EA Server to record the stats was struggling so this was creating delays on the passing shooting etc. Happened around TOTY release. We have seperate coolers on our consoles and on cooling plates especially but it is valid point.

Can you please tell me how to apply real good pressure against the other opponent online? seems like everyone does it to me…I know how to customised the team but that only works for me for games that are not online, it does not apply the pressure for online games. Please help me out. Thanks

Thanks for that input! I’ve experienced a massive slowdown in gameplay from time to time causing me to lose over and over again to even the shi##est opponenst out there. But only when I’ve been playing 8+ hours. I can’t turn off my console when on a losing streak so I just carry on and lose more games and so on. I thougth my internet-connection was the problem here.

I AGREE with you !!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am one of the best players and i have one of the best internet !!!! when i win a a lot the next day i will feel my players so slow!!!! so after breaking a disk of fifa and bought another disk the next day, i decided to ask the player that beat me at least 5 0 to rematch but not in season mode, so after i rematched more than 1 player i realize that fifa want you to loose and wants the other players to win!!

@jb, if you lose a few games In a row you’re players confidence/morale drop meaning they don’t perform as maybe the would usually, try adding a squad team talks card to you’re team (around 400 coins a pop Xbox) I always make sure my players are on very high morale

Great tutorial! I have a question though. Sometimes, I’ll come up against someone with two or three really fast players and they’ll basically send one on a run and do a lobbed through pass. Almost everytime they do that, they end up through on goal. It’s just so annoying because half the time, they’re horrible players who just know how to do that. How would you suggest defending against these types of players.

I am 1 of the best players! i am always ranked in top 100. but i have been facing a problem from last year which is i win a lot but one day i loose a lot and i go back to div 2 than the other day i win win win win win win than i loose loose loose loose loose loose, and when i loose i can feel my team is to slow to react. and i realize that its like they want me to loose. for example( yesterday i lost like 5 games in a row,each game i loose 4 0, 5 0 ,so i decided to ask the person to rematch he accepted and i won 2 matches 3 0 and this was the same player that beat me 6 0 in the season.
I AM JUST WONDERING DOES ANYONE FACE THE SAME PROBLEM??????????

yes, i have the same problem, sometimes i just cant tackle and other times i can, my players go slow and opposition players find it easy to tackle, but i get the worst of it most of the time, sometimes im the one with the better reactions . i wish every game was the same, sometimes it feels out of my control, i pass to someone but it doesnt go were i aim, then in another match everything goes right,

yeah, its ea scripting/handicap….. many people argue that it doesn’t exist but sometimes there’s surely no other explanation than how you put it yourself. ‘it feels like they want you to lose.’ there’s nothing you can try or do that helps your situation. sometimes i get relegated into div 2, then next season i win the div 1 title.

Really? Because I doubt that a good player would destroy someone in one game and get wrecked in the next especially if it’s the same opponent.

jay

Posted January 18, 2013 at 2:16 AM

yea man. i believe its a combination of the servers the morale and your thoughts. i kick ass too. but i hate it when my regular passes don’t even reach their halfway point before theyre stolen. its annoying

hey great webside . when i play online real madrid vs real madrid. my opponents ronaldo always runs faster than mine ? they even can pass rramos. but i can never? my players so slow. even e deffender with 50 pace catch up to ronaldo? what am i doing wrong? i search all over google but cant find any think. . please help?

I’m playing fut mostly and keep getting myself wiped in division one. I’ve only won it once but I think I got paired with similar opposition. I’m noticing that there is a big gap between these divisions and the good players seem to know a secret to winning the ball back immediately. Even from behind. Do they spam the shoot button?

Good players know what you are going to do the secret is to do the unexpected against better players.Suddenly stop running or go a direction which makes no sense. They are reading your play and simply pressing tackle with 2nd man contain.

Thanks. It seems this is where I have good and bad days. Particularly trying to track their movements and getting right on them immediately.
I noticed often in a tussle between my strong player and his weaker player (Ogbona and Javier Hernandez for example) I can still loose the ball but on the other end not win it. What is the trick there? This often happens when trying to turn away but also moving straight still keeping the defender between the attacker and the ball. Those players that can do that always manage to win nearly every challenge. Even with physically much weaker players.

I keep having problems with my own defenders controlled by the computer. I use a CDM usually to try and still the ball, but if he gets past me, then my defenders simply back off, and even end up behind the penalty spot. They never charge, and keep a safe distance from the attacker. This leaves the attacker with space to shoot, and is also very close to the goal, so you can guess the outcome.

The same problem happens with forward balls from the opposition. They always keep a safe distance and allow the attacker to trap the ball and turn towards the goal. They avoid challenging any kind of ball.

Personally I find that the current defending system is worse than Fifa12 and is ruining the game, along with many other problems. I just want to add that I am a very experienced player, so these issues have been worked on for a while now but with now positive results….

Hey man and thanks for the site. I am getting seriously irritated that my offside trap is not working at all. I am using the offside trap setting but there is always one stupid defender running after the attacker so that the offside trap is offset. I would like the defenders to move more like in a line so that the opponents cant just offset the offside by simply running to my half of the pitch. Can I prevent this in any way?

Have you looked at the custom tactics section? You can also press up twice on the dpad (assigns tactics) that will trigger the offside trap to happen at that moment in time. All your defenders will move up in a line 😉

Was wondering if you had any advice on how to defend against wingers who cut into the box from near the corner flag to score. I try using contain and second player controls but cant seem to get close enough to make the tackle and at some point I will move the defender out of the way giving away a free shot. I think at least more than half the goals I concede are conceded this way.

Thanks for the great tutorials, these really are the best on the web. There are so many small details and touches that the manual doesn’t cover, and if you’re new to ‘modern’ FIFA like me, these tutorials are the key to being able to compete effectively. Thank you for having the good grace to share!

Thank you for the tutorial. I understand the basics but when I play online I seem to struggle in the following situation: the attacker runs on the wing (usually a pacey player) and I contain with my defender. When he reaches my box he suddenly stops and turns back and loses my defender and can easily enter the box to take a shot on goal. I tried to only run next to him and not contain or I jokey him but when he turns he loses the defender even better. How to defend this attacks?

What had worked for me sometimes is jokey the player but also bring the extra defender (pressing RB in Xbox) , let the extra defender do the block on the winger and with the defender you are controlling, cover the open space that the winger might get, but do this leaving a little distance between you and the extra defender. By doing this you are choking the winger and most of the time the winger will try to do a desperate pass.
I hope it works.

I know this was a looooong time ago but for anyone who has this problem, you just have to anticipate what the winger is going to do. Jockey him for a little while and then when you think he’s gonna cut the ball back, just step in the way of him. It’s also worth noting that on offense, you can act like you’re going to cut it back, and then take the line, or visa versa. That always works for me.

I feel I might be over using the manual jockeying when playing. Most of the time I use manual jockey and sometimes 2nd defender press and i rarely manual tackle. I never chase the ball carrier manually anywhere on the pitch except where i have to and just fill holes and try and anticipate through balls etc. I feel I need to pressurise my opponent more instead of just letting him have easy possesstion all the time.

Any thoughts? Whats the right balance between jockying and pressuring. How can i effectivly pressure without opening my self out for one on ones?

As you say its a balance but your style is all about reading your opponent. As they are all different any advice would not be fully suitable. If you like to close players more maybe time for higher pressure and aggression to add to that style. Otherwise you are counteracting your own method.

i am in division 2 now thanks to my frequent disconnections and crap EA server.I have already been in division 1 and won the PREMIER TITLE twice.I dont use any skill moves as i dont know .My suggestion is to just defend well and attack on the break or look for mistakes.I score a lot of goals with corners too
add me my ps3 id :rafa_fed (link removed)
i am from INDIA

Any tips on defending wingplay/crossses, i use a low pressure, cover tactic, i generally defend quite well from open play throughballs, one-twos etc. But I’m conceding alot from corners(lack of concentration mainly).

I’m conceding alot from crosses, how can i stop this? Do i need to press more to win the ball on the wing/ manually tackle instead of jockying? Should i be looking at my CBs positioning in the box when my opponents got a chance to cross and move them to block off the striker early?

So i should contain the crosser and controll center back? At the moment i press with two players on the ball carrier, then switch to cb if i havent won the ball, is it a bad idea? Do you need to really try and stop the cross or put more effort on covering the strikers?

Hi mate it’s the guy from twitter I’ve done all of this best way to explain is when I pass the ball you think it was a iron ball and my players just sit untill the ball arrives at there feet they move as if they was 57 rated bronze players I just really don’t understand what causes this to happen I really love this site as it helps me alot but this is just driving me mad

First, thank you so much. You’ve spent a lot of time on this and I really appreciate it. Two points I need help with.

1. In FIFA 11 players could simply hold down pass and right trigger to zero directly onto a defender. In 12 you still are able to do this but it only brings you within closing down distance. At this point and correct me if I’m wrong but you can press right trigger plus the pass button for a toe poke or the shoot button for a standing tackle? Is this considered a running jostle? My local opposition has the uncanny ability to always move my player off the ball and claims he is using a combination of right trigger and shoot.

2. This problem seems to have never been addressed since FIFA came to next-gen consoles, goal kicks that result in a single defensive header anywhere in the midfield to a cherry picking forward who seems to always be slightly onside and in between the two CB with a direct path to goal. How do you deal with the majority of your goal kicks?

Cheers, for your first point if you don’t want to hold that gap then let go of triggers and just run for the ball. Dangerous if you miss but as soon as you start to contain everything will slow down defensively. Use a combination of both and also sliding just next to where you think they are going to go so your opponent never knows if you are going to charge or hold.

Point 2 erm yeah EA haven’t sorted this one. There are various techniques people use from not letting go of the lob pass button and stick to using double trigger and nudging the opposing player. Personally I throw or kick to the wings with 3/4 power.

i have problem defending especially when playing against a friend of mine who always seems to beat me,he oftens uses a chipped through ball to unlock my defence and my players often seem to just switch off any tips on defending this,plus he always outmuscles me from the ball during one on one situations please help me out on this too.
Great site but you should give instructions on the playstation for us who dont own xboxs

You can manually select players yourself and drag them towards ball or to cover space. You can also use right stick to actually point to a player you want to control. There is also a setting for player movement as shown above so that they continue in the same direction. Off, low or high. Try experimenting with those settings and manually selecting your players. You can then move them where you want on and off the ball easier. Basically you need to learn to switch players quicker and position them rather than relying on the AI which will let strikers through all the time.

We are xbox players but also on ps3 and PC too. All instructions given are cover the three of them. That is why we say use Left Bumper rather than saying LB on xbox or L1 on PS3. Left bumper is just that and left trigger is just that on any console or PC

please advise how to delete the current customised tactics to create a new one because there is no option any where to use, and we are really suffering if we are playing with friends to change and save the configrations of the controllers whenever we changed something onther and save other one will change why we dont know !!

There is only one way to delete custom tactics and formations. In main menu go to MY FIFA 12, then FIFA 12 PROFILE, then SAVE/LOAD/DELETE and delete everything which isn’t a saved game file or replay. However you will lose your Virtual Pro if you do this.

Not quite sure what you are meaning with custom formations and playing with friends?

Hi. Can you help by telling how exactly you defend? I mean I can describe my way to defend and pls tell me where i do wrong: In their half I contain (using pass button and second player press – X and L2 my configuration for ps3), sometimes both of these buttons, somtimes just one of them. But how should i contain? keeping X pressed all the time so my player will tackle automatically, or pressing X for normal tackle just when the player with the ball is very near to me for the tackle, and in the rest of the time just moving my selected player around ? And what about the jockey, standing tackle and sliding tackle? Fifa 12 def drives me crazy cause i see almost every player vs i play online defends better than me. I mean their players get the ball all the time and they push me from the ball, while . I would really apreciate if you can describe what combination of buttons you use to defend, where and when you use them.
Thanks.

One big factor for improving at FIFA is patience. A few hours spent learning and practicing will stop you wasting days in the future getting beat and frustrated. Depends if you want to be better and win or just play and get beat. We like to win!

Hi great site, wonder if you can help. There is a push pull type tackle being done by some players that will always strip you of the ball and leave you for dead. I’ve read other people describing it as if the opposition player just vortex into you. I don’t know if it’s a combination of buttons or a set number of taps of the tackle button but its more than just the regular shirt pull. Its best use is when a striker is on goal past the defence, I’d describe it as an equivalent of the old cynical last ditch sliding tackle but this strange shirt pull doesn’t even get a foul or a card. You then get to watch the other teams defender strut off with the ball while your attacker lies in a heap. Anyone that can do it is at a huge advantage. Players also use it to rob your defenders with there striker when they should have no chance of getting the ball.
It’s incredibly frustrating!

Not sure how to word this – but I always seem to get beaten in 50/50 on the ball when playing online. My guy always seems to get barged off the ball – it’s increadibly frustrating…am I not hitting a button I should be or something – I just don’t get it.

Many factors affect tackling. Will redo section when we get chance. Spent every minute we have trying to look into connection issues. Basically hold Left trigger and press tackle button when close enough. If you set your tactics to high pressure it helps players win ball too. You can barge player when close by tapping shoot button. Only use this at side of player or behind them though.

When game starts press down arrow and then left arrow on pad (that is default to set tactics) That sets high pressure! job done. Most use that online. Just do small lobs over top of their rushing players 😉

Hi Wade – sorry I’m not helping with an answer here – just adding weight to your comment – this happens to me as well – any advise on this would be greatly appreciated…are the other people using custom tactis really well or something??

Looks like a custom tactics help guide needed. Used to use them to beat better players. They do work but you need to spend time setting them up and to a style of play. Not used them in 12 as now a much better player and don’t need them really. Also found custom tactics used to mess gameplay for me in 11. So players didn’t respond same. You will find most players simply set the default tactics to high pressure and attacking bar up one notch. Try that first before messing fully with custom tactics.

I get burned occasionally online by people bombing long balls to Christiano Ronaldo. My defenders seem to stop for a split second when the ball is in the air, giving ronaldo a breakaway. Is there some setting I should change before the game to prevent this?

This happens to me as well. When I am attacking and the defence gets the ball, my opponent just make an ahead pass to Cristiano and he seems to make the breakaway most of the time even when I am able to switch and push my CB deeper. Any defence setting in particular that I can configure to counter this. Top of my head would be, Defence work rate for CB and/or assign a defender for the attacker? Have you tried any of these?